Spring 2027

Writing Science for the Public

Writing Science for the Public focuses on science writing concepts and techniques for communicating effectively with public audiences about science, research, and technology.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Kelly Mella

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.91 GPA, 93.8% A/AB (n=16 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.90 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=15 letter grades); Spring 2026: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=15 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Harness the elements of story to more deeply engage public audiences in science and to organize both written and oral communications.

  • Apply more concise, clear, and powerful language when writing and speaking about science and research.

  • Appreciate the need to understand others' perspectives when communicating about science and apply strategies for responding empathetically to audience concerns.

  • Foster dialogue and community by participating thoughtfully and respectfully in discussions, including peer reviews of each other's work.

  • Integrate the concepts and skills learned in the course to write a personal essay or opinion piece about a timely and relevant science topic or controversy.

  • Combine knowledge of the principle of effective science communication with new technical skills to write and speak about aspects of their own research.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Junior standing

  • Junior standing
LSC 561

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Junior standing

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=15 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

KELLY MELLA is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 250

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.91 GPA, 93.8% A/AB (n=16 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.90 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=15 letter grades); Spring 2026: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=15 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Science writing concepts and techniques
  • Story elements for engaging public audiences
  • Concise, clear, and powerful language in scientific communication
  • Audience perspective and empathetic responses to concerns
  • Dialogue, community building, and peer review
  • Personal essays and opinion pieces on science topics
  • Communicating about one's own research using technical skills

Skills

  • Science writing concepts and techniques for communicating with public audiences
  • Using story elements to engage audiences and organize written and oral communications
  • Applying concise, clear, and powerful language in scientific writing and speaking
  • Understanding diverse perspectives and responding empathetically to audience concerns
  • Participating in discussions and conducting peer reviews of scientific writing
  • Writing personal essays or opinion pieces on timely science topics
  • Combining communication principles with technical skills to discuss one's own research

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
LSC 561 · Spring 2027

Writing Science for the Public

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:120:025963",
    "course_id": "LSC 561",
    "course_uid": "course_b90762f11923a9483761c6f2",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "025963",
    "source_subject_id": "120",
    "title": "Writing Science for the Public",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  }
]
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "a2a93188f57b3a007d2cb0dd4ba0c00e67d959f2c1051d50d3a425e7e2375e1f",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}